The Nigerian Navy
came into existence on the 26th of March 1956. That year,
the House of Representatives approved the establishment of
the Navy. It was initially called the Nigerian Naval Force.
It was created out of a former quasi-military force known
as the Nigerian Marine that was under the Ministry of Transport
for marine policing duties.

The authorization of the Nigerian Navy as
a branch of the Armed Forces in 1958 came as part of the pre-independence
Nigerian nationalism, which demanded that Nigeria ought to
be an independent nation state and have correspondingly independent
Armed Forces to defend its sovereignty and to protect its
economic resources. That was the year the name Nigerian Naval
Force was changed to the Royal Nigerian Navy (RNN).

On its creation as a Naval Force in 1956,
only 11 assorted boats and harbour craft and about 200 officers
and men were transferred to it by the defunct Nigerian Marine.
The Nigerian Navy has today emerged as a multi-mission branch
of the Armed Forces with wartime roles and multifarious peacetime
duties in aid of the economy and survival of the nation.

03 Aug 56 The first Nigerian
Navy Ordnance was assented to by Sir James Wilson Robertson,
Governor-General and C-IN-C (Ordnance no28 of I956)

01 Nov 57 Her Majesty Nigerian
Naval Ship QUORRA became the Royal Nigerian Navy’s first
training school for Basic and Divisional (B&D) training

01 May 58 The Nigerian Navy
was formerly and legally established as a “Force”
in accordance with the Nigerian Navy ordnance of 1956

21 Jun 59 HMS HARE was transferred
by Royal Navy to the Nigerian Navy and renamed HMNS NIGERIA

30 Sep 60 Ordinary Seaman
Salawuddeen Akano of the Nigerian navy (Later became Commodore
and now deceased) lowered the Union Jack to symbolize the
end of British Colonial Rule in Nigeria and later hoisted
the Green – White – Green flag to mark Nigeria’s
independence on 01 Oct 60.